Aug 27, 2008 8:39 am US/Central
Painters Catch Baby During Philadelphia Fire
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) ―
Two painters are being hailed heroes after catching a baby dropped from the third floor of a burning building in Philadelphia's Kensington section Tuesday.
The drama unfolded at about 10:30 a.m. when flames broke out in a three-story row home in the 2500 block of Cedar Street.
Two painters working down the street saw black smoke billowing from a home and immediately ran to the scene. Daniel Dangler and Donald Miller said they saw the smoke and ran to the house where they found a father dangling his child out of the third floor window.
"I said to the guy, 'drop the kid,'" Dangler said. "The smoke was so thick behind them, I knew they couldn't go back inside."
With no firefighters in sight, the father dropped his son feet first safely into Dangler and Miller's arms.
"The way I was screaming at him, he trusted me to let that kid go," said Dangler.
With the father still trapped, the painters ran to retrieve the ladder from their truck, extending it high enough for the boy's father to escape.
The boy and his dad were taken to an area hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and authorities said both were expected to be OK.
The fire was placed under control at 10:49 a.m. and the cause remains under investigation.
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